A communication network may include network elements that route packets through the network. Some network elements may include a distributed architecture, wherein packet processing may be distributed among several subsystems of the network element (e.g., line cards). Certain services, such as Enhanced Internal Sublayer Service (EISS) and Internal Sublayer Service (ISS) defined by IEEE 802.3, are often provisioned on such distributed line cards. Accordingly, removal or failure of such line card may cause the EISS and the ISS of an interface to cease to exist or cease operation.
Service Operation, Administration, and Management (“Service OAM” or “SOAM”), is defined by IEEE 802.1ag and defines Maintenance Entity Group End Points (MEPs) that reside in the EISS or ISS. The ITU Y.1731 standard complements IEEE 802.1ag by allowing a MEP to transmit a Ethernet Alarm Indication Suppression (Eth-AIS) messages in a network direction away from where its peer MEP is located (e.g., in an upstream direction). Such Eth-AIS messages allow for alarms to be suppressed when received by a MEP. Accordingly, when a line card is failed or removed, state machines of the down MEP(s) provisioned on the line card cannot trigger the sending of Eth-AIS frames in an upstream direction of the failed line card. As a result, unnecessary alarms may be raised on the network element and/or at peer MEPs.